FA Cup 17/18 Thread

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :

Ipswich vs Sheff Utd
Watford vs Bristol City
Birmingham vs Burton
Liverpool vs Everton
Brighton vs Crystal Palace
Aston Villa vs Woking or Peterbrough
Ballmouth vs Afc Fylde or Wigan
Coventry vs Stoke
Newport vs Leeds
Bolton vs Huddersfield
Port Vale/Yeovil vs Bradford
Notts Forest vs Arsenal
Brentford vs Notts County
QPR vs MK Dons
Man Utd vs Derby
Forest Green/Exeter vs WBA
Doncaster vs Slough or Rochdale
Spurs vs AFC Wombledon
Middlesbrough vs Sunderland
Fleetwood or Hereford vs Leicester
Blackburn or Crewe vs Hull
Cardiff vs Mansfield
Man City vs Burnley
Shrewsbury vs West Ham
Wolves vs Swansea
Stevenage vs Reading
Newcastle vs Luton
Millwall vs Barnsley
Fulham vs Southampton
Wycombe vs Preston
Nodge vs Chelsea
Gillingham or Carlisle vs Sheff Wed

[westisbest]

F ing MK Dons, only team I needed to score for £331.

[CaledonianCraig]

Real controversy with the VAR at Anfield. West Brom 2-1 up and had a goal chalked off and now Liverpool get a penalty from it. Correct decisions but too long making them. Penalty missed.

[Ent]

I hate the var.

Takes far too long, still don't get all the decisions right and the fans in the ground have no idea what is going on.

[CaledonianCraig]

I hate the var.

Takes far too long, still don't get all the decisions right and the fans in the ground have no idea what is going on.

It will speed up in time I think. And it needs to. I agree about fans not knowing what is happening. I think it should (like cricket) go up on the scoreboard announcing what the check is for ie possible offside, possible penalty etc.

[Duty281]

I like the VAR, much needed in the game.

Like DRS in cricket, it’s far from perfect in its initial implementation and will need fine-tuning. Referees must be given microphones to communicate what is happening to the crowd/television viewers; referees must be given power to suspend the match clock (much like in rugby); each team captain should be given a ‘review’ in each half, rather than relying on the referee to decide what gets taken to the video referee.

The burden of proof also needs to be established and clearly understood . Obviously, this refers to foul play, not offsides.

[Ent]

I don't like it for offside, zooming in to pixel level to see if someone's toe is ahead of someone else's heel is not what the offside rule is intended for in my opinion.

Well end up using it for every decision and there will be a panel of "experts" (and a lay person for fairness) because there will be inter observer variability.

Be like nfl and take 3-4 hours to get the 90 minutes play in.

[No name Bertie]

Each match, at least when it involves premiership sides and possibly championship sides, is a multimillion pound event (wages, transport, publicity, gate, stadium preparation, advertisement, television ...).  It is no longer a "sport" it is a business event, with peoples jobs on the line etc etc.  Everything has been commercialised and professionalised except the officiating or at least the officiating is the most backward / amateurish part of the game.

[GSC]

VAR, what is it used for

[GSC]

That said, VAR undoubtedly has numerous teething issues but it's unreasonable to expect otherwise. Attitudes like Shearers from the last round are unhelpful in the extreme

[Guest]

Beaten by the one Southampton player we didn't nab. The irony.

[No name Bertie]

I thought the biggest shock of the round so far was Tottenham scraping a draw to Newport. I am not sure what is going on at West Ham to comment on their poor performance in round three and round four of the fa cup. Moyes seems to be having a positive effect when it comes to their premiership performances.

[Guest]

Moyes admitted after the game he didn't really care about the result. Said he had "bigger fish to fry"

[Ent]

Injuries and resting players I'd imagine in west game case.

Tottenham had a pretty strong team out- does this just reinforce how weak their overall squad is? Or are they really just very reliant on eriksen?

[Ent]

Moyes admitted after the game he didn't really care about the result. Said he had "bigger fish to fry"

Quite disgraceful.

Not surprised given the nonsense he was spouting before the game about Wigan preferring to survive than win the cup.

[GSC]

Meh. It's the way of modern football. We're way too far down this path for me to get really annoyed over it.

[Guest]

People still surprised the game is now solely about money

[Guest]

Shame teams cant just withdraw and be done with it. Like Utd did in 2000.

The FA Cup lost its sparkle years ago.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Liverpool pants at defending so they waste £75m on an average Dutch centre back - look how awful the Oranje national team is - and Klopp's crying about them conceding goals. When players Laporte and Marquinhos where attainable for less than van Dijk it's no surprise that klopp is a rubbish manager

[Ent]

Shame teams cant just withdraw and be done with it. Like Utd did in 2000.

The FA Cup lost its sparkle years ago.

Somewhat revisionist.

If the cup has lost its sparkle it's because the lesser teams started essentially throwing games by resting players, not that the big clubs put out 11 internationals in the early rounds.

[westisbest]

Used to love the FA Cup. Still enjoy it, not as much though.
Not the same anymore, but then football isn’t the same anymore, I’ve gone off the game a bit.

[Ent]

Ditto, I think it happens with getting older. Less time for it etc.

[No name Bertie]

Most clubs have lost their local identity in terms of the players and ownership. Only the supporters tend to be local, but not necessarily for the big clubs. Now the bigger clubs have a global audience and a global set of supporters to whom they can sell their merchandise.

[compelling and rich]

whens the draw for the next round?

[Guest]

One Show, BBC 7.20pm

[Steffan]

Cardiff game was good despite us losing and Man City fans being xenophobic (didn't realise they were so bad to be honest). Just hope we can pick ourselves up and push for promotion. Man City will probably win some silverware this year. Not the Champions League though

[Guest]

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Sheffield Wednesday v Notts County/Swansea
West Brom v Southampton
Chelsea v Hull
Leicester v Sheffield United
Huddersfield/Birmingham v Manchester United
Millwall/Rochdale v Newport County or Tottenham
Brighton v Coventry
Wigan v Manchester City

Dull draw, no stand-out ties.

[Guest]

Agree, John. Pretty uninspiring bar Millwall/Rochdale vs Spurs.

[Duty281]

Her Majesty’s Constabulary will be praying Millwall lose the replay!

[Ent]

So just seen the highlights of united Huddersfield.

What on earth were the wobbly non parallel lines put up during the VAR review all about for Mata's "goal"?

[Guest]

FA Cup QF draw

Manchester United v Brighton
Wigan or Man City v Southampton
Leicester v Chelsea
Sheffield Wednesday or Swansea v Rochdale or Tottenham

[Lowlandbrit]

So just seen the highlights of united Huddersfield.

What on earth were the wobbly non parallel lines put up during the VAR review all about for Mata's "goal"?

They seemed to be going straight down the camera angle instead of using any of the lines on the field for reference, which is a bit worrying.

[No name Bertie]

Rochdale 2 Tottenham 2 ... Tottenham can't hang on for the win, they get the "winner" in the 89th minute (Harry Kane penalty), but Rochdale get the equaliser in the 94th minute. Rochdale players earn themselves a visit to Wembley.

[Guest]

Wigan 1-0 Man City - FT

Quadruple, no more

[Ent]

I know it was mostly the media but the talk of quadruples, trebles etc is so premature these days - before you've even played a European knock out tie it's being talked up.

Makes a season where you "just" win the league seem like a failure.

[Guest]

Pressure definitely ramped up though on City/Pep this Sunday. Seen it before, wonderful seasons completely ruined by quick-fire, back-to-back cup exits.

[Guest]

I know it was mostly the media but the talk of quadruples, trebles etc is so premature these days - before you've even played a European knock out tie it's being talked up.

Makes a season where you "just" win the league seem like a failure.

I was thinking the same thing last night. Guardiola could just end up emulating Mancini and Pellegrini in achievement.

[Ent]

Or they could win 3 trophies.

Premature to write them off as it was to say they're won a quadruple.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Morata finally scored in 2018... 1-0 up against Leicester. How Real Madrid conned £70m for morata is staggering. He's a goal in 3 games merchant at best

[Guest]

SF Draw

Manchester United vs Tottenham
Chelsea vs Southampton

[Ent]

Rough draw for united as spurs are essentially st home.

Suppose we've had a fair enough draw so far though.

[No name Bertie]

From the media coverage / hysterical reporting + various tv football pundits criticism I would guess that the following managers "need" to win the FA Cup in decreasing levels of importance

1) Pochetinno: By some distance
Lots of criticism that his team has to start winning silverware very soon as otherwise the whole team according to the media / pundits will start to disintegrate as the "bigger" clubs come in to cherry pick the talent (as what happened to Kyle Walker at the end of last season)
Pochetinni also needs to ensure Champions League Football for next season.

2) Mourinho
Following the avalanche of criticism he has received following the manner of his sides exit from the Championships League.
Personally I feel that Mourinho just needs to ensure progress in the premiership by finishing in the top four.  If he finishes second I would consider that a success given the quality and competitiveness of the challengers (Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea ...).  He collected silverware last year.  I think most of his critics are looking for a more attacking approach and better play in general.

3) Conte
Given that Chelsea have performed poorly compared to last year in the defence of their Premiership title and look likely to miss out on a top four place this would be their last chance of silverware for this year.
However all reports suggest that Conte will be off in the summer.  Also I would guess Chelsea's priority is to finish in the top four with some crunch games coming up.

4) Mark Hughes
his focus will be to try to stay in the Premiership - which requires his team to win away to teams in the lower half of the league.

[Fernando]

Send Nudes Nore

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

1-1 so far in the United-Spurs semi. Alli for Spurs and Alexis for united

[Guest]

2-1 - Ander Herrera

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

No futures for either Juan Mata or Anthony martial at Manchester United. Mourinho will move both on

[Guest]

You imagine some Spurs players will be questioning their futures.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Even with a ridiculous home advantage, it’s happened again for Spurs

[Guest]

As the great Olly once said: Spurs gonna Spurs.

[Riggs]

Today is the day of The FA Cup FINAL!!!

Looking forward to a match that will be difficult to predict.

The fans of either side will go wild after the final whistle, ecstatic in winning the most respected trophy in history.

Steeped in rich history and as always carries huge importance every year. Bring it on!

[Ent]

I fancy Chelsea today.

They were very solid against Liverpool recently and hazard was really up for it.

United on the other hand have been in awful form recently.

Hard to predict though, hoping united can do it!

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